Marine critically injured in Afghanistan gets holiday surprise

Marine critically injured in Afghanistan gets holiday surprise
KOMO News
By Kara Kostanich
Published: Nov 24, 2013

SEA-TAC AIRPORT, Wash. -- A local marine critically injured in Afghanistan got an unexpected holiday surprise. Doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center allowed Lance Corporal Evin Bodle to temporarily return home for the first time since his massive injury.

Bodle, a Marine, assigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. was injured in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Aug. 6, 2012 while conducting combat operations. The 27-year-old has been under constant medical care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. since.

A group of friends and family including Bodle's wife and two small children met the recovering Marine at Sea-Tac Airport Saturday with a hero's welcome.

"To see him out of the hospital is big for them," said Meara Sollman Bodle as her two children Peyton, 2 years-old; and Quinn, 5 years-old welcomed their Daddy home for the first time since he was critically injured.

His Mom, Cindy Shute-Bodle, said just to see her son walk off the plane to be with his family and children was amazing and a true miracle.

The Bodle family knows the pain and sacrifice of war. It delivered a life sentence of injuries for the Marine from Lake Stevens. Bodle lost 20 percent of his brain tissue, causing a very serious traumatic brain injury.
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